section 18, in Rock Bluff Precinct,
which he has since added to his estate, and it now
comprises 540 acres. and there he has since been a
resident. His father joined him in the spring of 1867,
remaining with him two years, then returned to the old
home in New York State, where his death took place in
the year 1871, when he was sixty-three years old. For
a period of fifteen years he had voted with the
Republican party, of which our subject is also a most
decided adherent. The family, except John B., as far
back as is known, belonged to the Presbyterian Church.
The Holmes family comprise a portion of the solid
element of Cass County, and have contributed their
fall quota in building up its present enviable
reputation and advancing its prosperity and welfare.
On his extensive farm Mr. Holmes usually feeds from
200 to 300 head of cattle. He is also engaged in
breeding high-grade Norman and Clydesdale horses, some
of which are full-blood, and eligible to be registered
in the American herd book. His cattle run from
thoroughbred Short-horns down to grades.
We invite the reader's attention to
a fine view of the elegant home of Mr. Holmes on an
accompanying page of this work.

OUIS
FOLTZ, a representative citizen and thorough-going
farmer, resides on his highly improved farm on section
33 of Mt. Pleasant Precinct. He was born Feb. 23,
1840, in Holmes County, Ohio, where he lived, dividing
his time between labor on the farm and attending
public school, until he enlisted in the Union Army,
May 2, 1861, in Company G, 16th Ohio Infantry, as a
private soldier. The regiment of which he was a member
formed apart of the corps commanded by Gen. Morrison.
Their field of operation was in Virginia and West
Virginia. He took an active part in many skirmishes
and engagements, but the largest portion of his duty
was confined to the garrison and guarding property. He
was honorably discharged in September, 1861 when he
returned to Holmes County, Ohio.
Mr. Foltz was married, on the 4th of
December, 1862, to Miss Susan Stucker, a native of
Holmes County, where she was born April 3, 1838. She
is a daughter of Abraham and Elizabeth Stucker, who
were natives of Pennsylvania. Her parental ancestors
were of German descent. Mr. and Mrs. Foltz have an
interesting family of four children, namely: William
J.; Mary R., now the wife of E. Munson, residing in
Mt. Pleasant Precinct; Andrew J., deceased, and David.
After his marriage, our subject with his family
resided in Holmes County until the spring of 1876,
when he removed to Cass County, Neb. In the fall of
the same year he settled on his present farm, which
now embraces 440 acres of land, a large portion of
which is under a high state of cultivation. He also
owns 160 acres in Stove Creek Precinct, in all, 600
acres of valuable land.
Mr. Foltz is a son of Solomon and
Rebecca Foltz. Both parents were natives of
Pennsylvania, who removed from their native State and
settled in Holmes County, Ohio, at a very early date,
nearly, a half century ago. They resided there until
1862, when they migrated to Cass County, Neb., and
settled in Mt. Pleasant Precinct, where the mother
died in 1882. The father now resides with our subject,
and is past seventy years of age, in splendid health,
bidding fair to live for many years. His paternal
ancestors were German; his grandfather, David Foltz,
served as a soldier in the American Army during the
War of 1812.
A large family of children, ten in
number, were born to the parents of our subject, nine
of whom are living, namely: Louis, who was the eldest;
Louisa, now the wife of Mr. John Shelton, residing in
Weeping Water; David resides in Cheyenne County;
Frederick resides in Elmwood Precinct; Barbara E. is
the wife of Samuel Bergen, and resides in Kansas;
Catherine is the wife of Robert Lockston, and resides
in Fillmore County, Neb.; Susan, now Mrs. Brant,
resides in Nebraska; Mary is the wife of Caye Wright,
and resides in Nebraska; Joseph resides in Stove Creek
Precinct, this county, and Rose A. is deceased. The
parents of Mrs. Foltz had a family of six children,
namely: Catherine, who resides in Wayne County, Ohio;
Mary A. is the wife of George McElroy, and resides in
Greene County, Ind.; Christina is the wife of S. J.
Cutter, and resides in Holmes County, Ohio; Susan is
the

886

CASS COUNTY.

wife of our subject; George resides
in Clinton County, Mo., and Ohio Stucker resides in
Mt. Pleasant Precinct.
Mr. Foltz is a level-headed,
clear-thinking man, thoroughly well posted in all
matters pertaining to successful farming, and is a
self-made man in all respects. The elegant property
which he has accumulated is the direct result of his
own application and energy. Coming to Nebraska at an
early day, with means very limited in amount, he has
applied himself so closely to the business in which he
is engaged that he has acquired the fine property with
which he is now surrounded. He is in politics a
thorough-going Democrat, and has served his friends
and neighbors in various official capacities. In 1884
he was elected as one of the County Commissioners of
Cass County, and was re-elected to the same office in
the fall of 1887, from a district which usually gave a
handsome Republican majority. He is a member of
LaFayette Post No. 60, G. A. R., at Weeping Water, and
takes an active interest in all that pertains to the
educational, political or religious benefit of the
precinct. Both himself and wife are active members of
society, in which they fill a conspicuous place. They
are both open hearted and generous, and their home is
the abode of peace and comfort. They are both well
known throughout Cass County, and they take rank among
its foremost citizens.
The home of Mr. Foltz and family,
one of the most comfortable in Mt. Pleasant, is shown
on another page of this ALBUM.

ENRY
L. MESSNER. Those who suppose that there is required
in the prosecution of farming little skill and no
education, are vastly mistaken, as they will find upon
experience and observation. The biographer in
obtaining a record of the events which have transpired
during the early settlement of Cass County, finds
among its successful agriculturists the most
intelligent element of this region. Among these the
subject of this sketch occupies no secondary position.
His industry and enterprise are proverbial in the
community where he has operated with results of which
he has reason to be proud. His property lies on
section 25, South Bend Precinct, and comprises 800
acres of land, which produce in abundance the rich
crops of Nebraska. He commenced in a modest manner his
operations as an agriculturist in this section of
country, and battled with the difficulties experienced
by the pioneer of twenty years ago, suffering from the
ravages of grasshoppers two years in succession, and
fighting his way through the other disadvantages
common to that time. Besides the home farm, he
purchased land in Louisville and Elmwood Precincts,
his whole estate at one time comprising 1,280 acres.
This was largely devoted to stock-raising, Mr. Messner
finding this industry the most profitable, and perhaps
carried on with less of labor than the tilling of the
soil, although he raises grain in sufficient
quantities to feed his stock.
We find in the career of Mr. Messner
a man essentially the architect of his own fortune.
Upon coming to Cass County, in the fall of 1869, he
settled at a point on Cedar Creek, and employed
himself by the day or month as he could secure work,
while his winters were occupied in teaching school. He
was the first pedagogue in Cedar Creek district, and a
favorite alike with pupils and parents. He was born in
Monroe County, Ohio, near the little village of
Lebanon, Feb. 6, 1849, and was the fourth in a family
of five children, two sons and three daughters,
comprising the offspring of Adam and Elizabeth (Smith)
Messner. The parents were both natives of the Province
of Alsace, now in Germany, whence they emigrated to
the United States after their marriage, settling first
in Washington County, Pa., where the father carried on
farming for a time, and then changed his residence to
Monroe County, Ohio. In the latter he built up a good
homestead, where, with his excellent wife, he still
resides. They took up their residence in the Buckeye
State in 1847, and are now quite aged, the father
being in his seventy-second year. and the mother
nearing her sixty-eighth birthday.
The maternal grandfather of our
subject was Philip Smith, also a native of the
Fatherland, who served under Napoleon Bonaparte, and
was taken a prisoner at the battle of Waterloo. He
lived to attain the advanced age of one hundred and
eight years.